Carrollton, GA – Last month’s annual Westpy Award ceremony featured many outstanding candidates for UWG’s Male and Female Athlete of the Year Awards. The two UWG student-athletes to receive the honor both possess resumes that are more than worthy of the honor.

Softball standout Alley Taylor was named West Georgia’s Female Athlete of the Year at the May’s Westpy Awards at The Coliseum. Also, football standout Devontae Jackson claimed UWG Male Athlete of the Year honors.

Taylor enjoyed a record setting season as a freshman in 2018. She terrorized opponents all season, highlighted by a .401 batting average, making her only the second player in the history of the program to post an average about the .400-mark. Taylor also had 19 extra base hits on the season, and she stole 33-of-37 bases.

A native Coral Springs, Fla., Taylor was voted All-Gulf South Conference First Team, was named GSC Co-Freshman of the Year, and was voted First Team All-Region by the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association.

Honors are nothing new for Jackson during his UWG career. The 2018 Westpy ceremony marked the third straight year that he was received a Westpy Award. This year’s honors came on the heels of a remarkable 2017 campaign by the rising senior running back from Marietta, Ga.

Jackson earned All-America and All-Region honors last year, and was an All-Gulf South Conference First Team selection. He became the first UWG player in nearly two decades to be named GSC Offensive Player of the Year, and Jackson became the first West Georgia player ever to be selected a national finalist for the Harlan Hill Trophy, given annually to the nation’s top Division II player.

Jackson enters this senior season this fall on the verge of an assault on the UWG record book. His career all-purpose yards total of 4,506 leaves him on the verge of becoming only the second player in the UWG history to surpass the 5,000-yard mark for his career. Also, he comes into the 2018 season needing 587 yards to claim West Georgia’s all-time record in that category.

Considering their many accomplishments, both Taylor and Jackson were more than deserving of their Athlete of the Year prizes at this year’s Westpy Awards. Perhaps the best news of all for UWG fans is that both are poised for even bigger seasons in the year to come.